On the eve of a deadline to avoid a second partial government shutdown, no one -- not congressional leaders, President Donald Trump's allies on Capitol Hill nor his own staff -- is ready to say that he is willing to sign a compromise immigration bill.

But his labored efforts to spin a win out of a nearly two-month confrontation with Democrats -- that brought his border wall no closer -- leave little doubt about the victors from the first big showdown in the new era of divided government.

Two sources told CNN's Dana Bash on Wednesday that the President will sign the bill, reflecting the fact that it is likely the best he can get out of Congress and the political perils of triggering another shutdown.
"We're going to look at the legislation when it comes, and I'll make a determination then," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Votes are expected in the House and the Senate as early as Thursday evening in order to get the legislation to the President's desk -- and ensure relief for 800,000 federal workers living in fear of another shutdown.
Yet Trump, who has a flair for cliffhangers and believes behaving unpredictably keeps everyone else off balance, has yet to give full public assurance he will sign the measure, which falls well short of his demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

That may be why Democrats apparently chose not to take a victory lap after depriving Trump of funding for his top campaign promise and Republicans gingerly expressed hopes the President would sign the legislation.
Everyone is right to be cautious since the President has a record of changing his mind about apparently squared away congressional deals. On the most notorious occasion, he torpedoed a stopgap funding bill in December that lacked wall funding but would have staved off a shutdown that turned into the longest in US history.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed optimism Wednesday when CNN's Manu Raju asked her whether she believes Trump will sign.

"I think he will," she said.
But no one thinks Trump will just give up the fight even if he signs a bill that includes nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers but no money for the wall he once said Mexico would finance.
Trump has hinted that if he signs the measure, he will take executive action and possibly even declare a national emergency to reprogram money from other government accounts -- likely triggering a constitutional showdown and legal challenges over the extent of presidential powers.
"I don't want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a terrible thing," Trump said. "We have options that most people don't really understand."

CNN - CBS News